Editor’s note: City Weekly will be publishing online and in print "The Swallow Files," a series of stories examining notes, observations and overlooked elements of the ongoing Swallow scandal, as the Legislature begins its lengthy investigation into the attorney general’s fitness as a public servant.

Chad Elie became a well-known fixture in the online-poker community after he was indicted in 2011 as part of the federal government’s crackdown on online gambling. Elie was a payment processor for Full Tilt, PokerStars and Absolute Poker, three companies charged by the federal government for violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, as well as for bank fraud and money laundering.

Elie served five months in prison beginning in January 2013 for his role in processing poker payments through several banks, including SunFirst bank, based in St. George, of which Jeremy Johnson was a major investor.

Johnson was indicted by the Federal Trade Commission in 2011 for operating an Internet marketing scheme that allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of Americans out of $275 million. He has also alleged that John Swallow, before he was elected attorney general, helped facilitate a bribe of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to put the kibosh on the federal investigation into Johnson’s company.

After his release from prison, Elie consented to an interview with the Matthew Parvis of the website PokerNews in which he discussed his involvement in what became known as the Black Friday indictments, as well as his dealings with Johnson.

In the interview, Elie says that before the indictments came down, Johnson stole $20-$30 million from his company. Elie also discusses Johnson’s alleged attempt to bribe Reid.

Chad Elie: I don’t know about Harry. But [Johnson] tried to pay everyone. I do know about John Swallow, I know about the former Attorney General. I definitely know there was a lot of money exchanged between the three of them.

Matthew Parvis: Money not funneling through the appropriate channels?

Chad Elie: Correct.

Neither Swallow nor Elie would not return a comment for this story. Elie discusses Johnson at about 3:45 of the clip below. To view the full video interview series with Elie, visit PokerNews.com.